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One man landers


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Been looking through some of my designs, and thought I would do a line up of my small one-man landers.

Some are 2-stage, with the ascender designed to dock back with an orbiting command module, whilst others are single stage designed to return to Kerbin on their own. I think there's a 2-stage in there where the ascender isn't required to dock with a command module, but just returns directly to Kerbin.

land101.png

land102.png

land103.png

L-R : 2-stage orbit and rendezvous, single stage direct return, 2-stage orbit and rendezvous, 2-stage direct return, single stage direct return with jettisonable side tanks, single stage direct return, but can also rendezvous and dock if required.

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I'm always looking for inspiration for new, efficient lander designs. I am most interested by the one on the right (and the little tiny one too). I presume parts clipping was enabled for these designs?

I can't seem to discern where the engines are located on that last one, I'd love a closer look at it.

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My landers look nothing like this, these look sleek and efficient with just enough fuel to do as designed, mine tend to have huge amounts of excess DV and require no docking. once I made a minmus lander with 5 of each experiment and 2500m/s Dv after touching down, and a fully fueled T/W of 80 in minmus SOI, needless to say I spent about an hour jumping around the surface of minmus and then went to perform a parachuteless landing on the KSC roof and ended up with 1650 science points.

But it was as ugly as sin

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Parts clipping was used on some but I can't remember if I used it on all. The small one just uses small parts; legs, engine and as few fuel tanks as was necessary to be able to land and return. The end one has two small engines placed symmetrically, with a standard docking port where the engine would normally go. Have used this one as a shuttle from an orbiting station to the surface and back, or as a vehicle to return single pilots to Kerbin from a station or the surface.

The one near the middle, that looks a bit like an airgun pellet, is carrying too much fuel. There is enough in the lower stage to land and get back to Kerbin without needing to separate the ascent stage at all.

land101a.png

land101b.png

Edited by Scarecrow88
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Nice 1 mans, Did you use part clipping or are you just that great at building? (Seriously no sarcasm i'm really curious) I always turned on part clipping but never knew what it helped me with exactly.

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I can't even seem to get part clipping to work now using Alt-F12. I tried it last night to no avail - enabling the option allowed nothing. I used to be able to do it, so what am I doing wrong?

The biggest problem I have with micro-landers is in placement of RCS. Usually there's no good flat surface and thrusters are wildly imbalanced. If you intend to rendezvous with a station or an orbiting command module, it's pretty hard on engine power alone.

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True, but that can really perturb the orbit of the command module - which means extra dV spent leaving orbit and returning home (Not to mention the risks in such a low orbit). Fuel is usually scarce at this stage of the operation, and it's better spent by the lander, which will be left behind.

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My very very very first 1 man lander was a RCS thrusted one, So it was relatively small. I lost the save file from the great version .23 arrival.

But hey, atleast I learned how I can NOT use fuel for a lander!

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In an effort to make the smallest useful lander possible, here's what I've come up with. It's mostly stock except for NP radial chutes and the HBI Sensor Module (contains all 4 science instruments and goo). It's 2.159 tons and has 1,155 dV - enough to return on its own from the surface of Minmus or the Mün.

I can probably make it a bit lighter if I replace the stock RTGs with a pair of the smaller AIES probe RTGs.

SuperFlea_zps27e02a47.png

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